Product Description

In the Antarctic, every March since the beginning of time, the quest begins to find the perfect mate and start a family. This courtship will begin with a long journey - a journey that will take them hundreds of miles across the continent by foot, in freezing cold temperatures, in brittle, icy winds and through deep, treacherous waters. They will risk starvation and attack by dangerous predators, under the harshest conditions on earth, all to find true love.

DVD Features:
Documentaries:CRITTERCAM : EMPEROR PENGUINS: penguin diving and feeding
Documentary:OF MEN AND PENGUINS: The incredible filmmaking process of the movie
Other:8 BALL BUNNY: A classic WB animated short with Bugs Bunny and a penguin

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #5287 in DVD
• Brand: WARNER HOME VIDEO
• Released on: 2005-11-29
• Rating: G (General Audience)
• Aspect ratio: 1.85:1
• Formats: AC-3, Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, Dubbed, DVD, Subtitled, Widescreen, NTSC
• Original language: English
• Subtitled in: English, Spanish, French
• Dubbed in: Spanish
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 85 minutes

Amazon.com
March of the Penguins instantly qualifies as a wildlife classic, taking its place among other extraordinary films like Microcosmos and Winged Migration. French filmmaker Luc Jacquet and his devoted crew endured a full year of extreme conditions in Antarctica to capture the life cycle of Emperor penguins on film, and their diligence is evident in every striking frame of this 80-minute documentary. Narrated in soothing tones by Morgan Freeman, the film focuses on a colony of hundreds of Emperors as they return, in a single-file march of 70 miles or more, to their frozen breeding ground, far inland from the oceans where they thrive. At times dramatic, suspenseful, mischievous and just plain funny, the film conveys the intensity of the penguins' breeding cycle, and their treacherous task of protecting eggs and hatchlings in temperatures as low as 128 degrees below zero. There is some brief mating-ritual violence and sad moments of loss, but March of the Penguins remains family-friendly throughout, and kids especially will enjoy the Antarctic blue-ice vistas and the playful, waddling appeal of the penguins, who can be slapstick clumsy or magnificently graceful, depending on the circumstances. A marvel of wildlife cinematography, this unique film offers a front-row seat to these amazing creatures, balancing just enough scientific information with the entertaining visuals. --Jeff Shannon

From The New Yorker
The French wildlife filmmaker Luc Jacquet spent more than a year chronicling the course of an emperor-penguin colony in Antarctica, and what he discovered was a touching, self-sacrificing ritual of parenthood. Trekking for miles through stunning ice-castle landscapes, Jacquet frames the penguins' mating cycle-from courtship through the birth and raising of their newborns-as a severe and forbidding ballet that demonstrates the true meaning of survival and determination. Narrated by Morgan Freeman. -Bruce Diones
Copyright © 2006 The New Yorker

Customer Reviews

The Cold Life of Emperor Penguins
I chose to see "March of the Penguins" as a diversion to a 100+ degree day, and saw that cold weather is worse than hot weather. Now, in the brisk part of autumn, it still holds up.

Penguins from several areas of Antarctica converge on land, safe from predators and the ebbing ice shelf. They are there to mate, birth, and care for their chick.

Monogamous for that year, penguins pair up and the mother lays an egg.

The mother dashes off back to the sea, which, thanks to the winter and new ice, is as far as 70 miles. She's starving, having lost one-third of her weight in laying the egg. The trip is long, and she's not fast. Hungry seals await them, some penguins lose their way, and some are too exhausted to continue.

Well-fed, full of food for her chick, she returns, and the father makes the same trip so he can eat. The father stayed behind to incubate the egg, and protect the new chick. He has lost one half of his weight.

The pair trade places a few more times as winter plods on. With temperatures 80 below zero, and winds up to 125, I felt cold just watching. The penguins huddle to keep warm, rotating which must do outside duty.

Morgan Freeman narrates. His voice does not overcome the story. Better written than any documentary I have ever seen, Freeman respects the script. Having never seen a documentary in a theater before, I was impressed at how well it worked on the big screen.

There is no plot, even though there is a beginning and an end. Unlike many documentaries, it does not detail the intricacies of eating, mate choosing, or science of penguin living. It is more about watching the arduous life cycle, with some explaining what we are watching.

The camera works captures the cold -- the shivering penguins, the snow blowing like dust over the long line of marching penguins. It reminded me of movies about Siberia, showing Soviets living in a frozen, cold natural prison.

This isn't a cute animal movie. Tender children might be saddened to see the eggs and chicks freezing, and could be quite frightened when the vicious seals overtake swimming penguins.

Now, with the ever-funny Bugs Bunny in "8 Ball Bunny," the kid-factor increases. Still, even as Bugs graces your home viewing experience, be careful with more impressionable children and the feature documentary.

Another DVD feature: Rodney the Penguin assists in "Crittercam: Emperor Penguins," as we learn how some of the complex videography was really shot.

I fully recommend "March of the Penguins."

Anthony Trendl
editor, HungarianBookstore.com

Simply Amazing
Morgan Freeman narrates this beautiful, moving, sometimes sad, often beautiful documentary (that actually does well on the big screen). There are no big stars in this, just thousands of the cutest most beautiful little guys you could think of. They are amazing animals and this depicts the life cycle of them and the way they live facing brutally cold conditions, attacks by seals, and the heartbreak they suffer (like humans) when chicks die or are taken from them. This is brilliant and unlike any other documentary I've seen. It captivated me from start to end and it's a must see. Listening to Morgan Freemans soothing voice is so pleasant and he was easily the best choice to narrate this. Go see this. I highly, highly recommend it.

Touching and Profound
What I love about nature documentaries, and "March of the Penguins" does so well, is that it gives us humans a glimpse into the divine order of things and the nature of life itself. Tracing the story of a colony of emperor penguins for one breeding season only, the movie touches upon profound struggle to leave progeny for the next generation that recurs year after year for these animals. I'm not sure, but I have not seen a documentary of these penguins during the dead of winter during a brutal blizzard. That alone was awe inspiring. A touching and profound movie on many levels, asethically and spiritually. Well done.